Ok so I'm new to the IBC but I would love to join a local IBC club or start one. I live in Maryland close to Waldorf and La Plata where can I find a local IBC Betta Club near there or should I start a small group or something?

I'll be like an hour from you in Centreville, VA I don't know of any IBC chapters in the NOVA/DC/Maryland area but I was also hoping there might be interest in starting something in the area if there's enough people.

I'm planning on getting involved with the Potomac Valley Aquarium society and seeing if any members there are interested in bettas. I'll be moving up there at the end of the month so will be busy with starting a new job, getting settled, etc at first but I'm definitely planning to do some fishy networking in the coming months.

You can find a list of the local chapters on the IBC website. Also, there is information on forming a chapter on the Better Bettas Yahoo group in the Files Section under the IBC Handbook. There was also an article in Flare recently about how to form a Chapter.

Kendra

IBC Member, IBC Certified Judge, Member of IBC Constitution Committee, Member of IBC Flare Committee, Member of IBC Chapters - GABBA, Midwest Betta Club and First Coast Bettas

Glad the info helped. I belong to three IBC Chapters but none of them have meetings. We communicate online and at shows. You might want to check to see if there is an Aquarium Association around you, too. I enjoy going to my local Aquarium Association meetings even tho it is about 50 miles away. I learn about other fish, plants and general fish keeping; and some members keep wild bettas and a few Crowntails.

Kendra

IBC Member, IBC Certified Judge, Member of IBC Constitution Committee, Member of IBC Flare Committee, Member of IBC Chapters - GABBA, Midwest Betta Club and First Coast Bettas

Checking into your local general aquarium society is a good start. You can drop off flyers announcing the creation of a betta club (just be sure to have a website/facebook group or something ready to go).

You might need to expand your search beyond what you consider to be "local". You east coasters are all squished in there together, but here in California its pretty normal to drive an hour or so to get to a fish club meeting. For CBS, we have members that drive several hours to our shows. And CBS members travel 6+ hours down to southern CA to help with the Golden State Betta shows. The internet brings us all closer, so the distance isn't as big a deal anymore. In person meetings are awesome, but not totally necessary until you start thinking about having a show, or doing a group buy on Aquabid, or something fun like that.